Brethren,
This week’s
Elder’s Quorum lesson will be based on President Dallin H. Oaks’ General
Conference entitled “The Need for a Church”.
Our
instructor will be Kent Jeppeson
Prior to the
lesson, The Elder’s Quorum Presidency will provide training on how we as Elders
can assist the bishop.
For your
calendars, The Chester Ward Christmas Party will be held this year on December
4th.
Here is President
Oaks’ conference talk:
The Needfor a Church
The scriptures clearly teach the
origin and need for a church directed by and with the authority of our Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Many years ago, Elder
Mark E. Petersen, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, began a
talk with this example:
“Kenneth and his wife,
Lucille, are good people, honest and upright. They don’t go to church, though,
and they feel they can be good enough without it. They teach their children
honesty and virtue and they tell themselves that is about all the Church would
do for them.
“And, anyway, they insist that
they need their weekends for family recreation … [and] church-going would
really get in their way.”
Today, my message concerns such
good and religious-minded people who have stopped attending or participating in
their churches. When I say “churches,” I include synagogues, mosques, or
other religious organizations. We are concerned that attendance in all of these
is down significantly, nationwide. If we cease valuing our churches for
any reason, we threaten our personal spiritual life, and significant numbers
separating themselves from God reduce His blessings to our nations.
Attendance and activity in a
church help us become better people and better influences on the lives of
others. In church we are taught how to apply religious principles. We learn
from one another. A persuasive example is more powerful than a sermon. We are
strengthened by associating with others of like minds. In church attendance and
participation, our hearts are, as the Bible says, “knit together in love.”
I.
The scriptures God has given
Christians in the Bible and in modern revelation clearly teach the need for a
church. Both show that Jesus Christ organized a church and contemplated that a
church would carry on His work after Him. He called Twelve Apostles and gave
them authority and keys to direct it. The Bible teaches that Christ is “the
head of the church” and that its officers were given “for the perfecting
of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ.” Surely the Bible is clear on the origin of a church and the need
for it now.
Some say that attending church
meetings is not helping them. Some say, “I didn’t learn anything today” or “No
one was friendly to me” or “I was offended.” Personal disappointments should
never keep us from the doctrine of Christ, who taught us to serve, not to be
served. With this in mind, another member described the focus of his
Church attendance:
“Years ago, I changed my
attitude about going to church. No longer do I go to church for my sake, but to
think of others. I make a point of saying hello to people who sit alone, to
welcome visitors, … to volunteer for an assignment. …
“In short, I go to church each
week with the intent of being active, not passive, and making a positive
difference in people’s lives.”
President Spencer W. Kimball
taught that “we do not go to Sabbath meetings to be entertained or even solely
to be instructed. We go to worship the Lord. It is an individual
responsibility. … If the service is a failure to you, you have failed. No one
can worship for you; you must do your own waiting upon the Lord.”
Church attendance can open
our hearts and sanctify our souls.
In a church we don’t just
serve alone or by our own choice or at our convenience. We usually serve in a
team. In service we find heaven-sent opportunities to rise above the
individualism of our age. Church-directed service helps us overcome the
personal selfishness that can retard our spiritual growth.
There are other important
advantages to mention, even briefly. In church we associate with wonderful
people striving to serve God. This reminds us that we are not alone in our
religious activities. We all need associations with others, and church associations
are some of the best we can experience, for us and our companions and children.
Without those associations, especially between children and faithful parents,
research shows increasing difficulty for parents to raise children in their
faith.
II.
So far, I have spoken
about churches generally. Now I address the special reasons for membership,
attendance, and participation in the Savior’s restored Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints.
We, of course, affirm that the
scriptures, ancient and modern, clearly teach the origin and need for a church
directed by and with the authority of our Lord, Jesus Christ. We also testify
that the restored Church of Jesus Christ has been established to teach the
fulness of His doctrine and to officiate with His priesthood authority to
perform the ordinances necessary to enter the kingdom of God.
Members who forgo Church
attendance and rely only on individual spirituality separate themselves from
these gospel essentials: the power and blessings of the priesthood, the fulness
of restored doctrine, and the motivations and opportunities to apply that
doctrine. They forfeit their opportunity to qualify to perpetuate their family
for eternity.
Another great advantage of
the restored Church is that it helps us grow spiritually. Growth means change.
In spiritual terms this means repenting and seeking to draw nearer to the Lord.
In the restored Church we have doctrine, procedures, and inspired helpers that
assist us to repent. Their purpose, even in membership councils, is not
punishment, like the outcome of a criminal court. Church membership councils
lovingly seek to help us qualify for the mercy of forgiveness made possible
through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
Individual spirituality
can seldom provide the motivation and structure for unselfish service provided
by the restored Church. Great examples of this are the young men and women and
seniors who put aside their schooling or retirement activities to accept
missionary callings. They work as missionaries to strangers in unfamiliar
places they have not chosen. The same is true of faithful members who
participate in the unselfish service we call “temple work.” None of such
service would be possible without the Church that sponsors it, organizes it,
and directs it.
Our members’ religious
faith and Church service have taught them how to work in cooperative efforts to
benefit the larger community. That kind of experience and development does not
happen in the individualism so prevalent in the practices of our current society.
In the geographic organization of our local wards, we associate and work with
persons we might not otherwise have chosen, persons who teach us and test us.
In addition to helping us
learn spiritual qualities like love, compassion, forgiveness, and patience,
this gives us the opportunities to learn how to work with persons of very
different backgrounds and preferences. This advantage has helped many of our
members, and many organizations are blessed by their participation. Latter-day
Saints are renowned for their ability to lead and unite in cooperative efforts.
That tradition originated with our courageous pioneers who colonized the
Intermountain West and established our valued tradition of unselfish
cooperation for the common good.
Most humanitarian and charitable
efforts need to be accomplished by pooling and managing individual resources on
a large scale. The restored Church does this with its enormous humanitarian
efforts worldwide. These include distributing educational and medical supplies,
feeding the hungry, caring for refugees, helping to reverse the effects of
addictions, and a host of others. Our Church members are renowned for their
Helping Hands projects in natural disasters. Church membership allows us to be
part of such large-scale efforts. Members also pay fast offerings to help the
poor in their own midst.
In addition to feeling
peace and joy through the companionship of the Spirit, our Church-attending
members enjoy the fruits of gospel living, such as the blessings of living the
Word of Wisdom and the material and spiritual prosperity promised for living
the law of tithing. We also have the blessing of counsel from inspired leaders.
Crowning all of this are the
authoritative priesthood ordinances necessary for eternity, including the sacrament
we receive each Sabbath day. The culminating ordinance in the restored Church
is the everlasting covenant of marriage, which makes possible the perpetuation
of glorious family relationships. President Russell M. Nelson taught this
principle in a memorable way. He said: “We cannot wish our way into the presence of God. We are to
obey the laws upon which [that blessing is] predicated.”
One of those laws is to worship in
church each Sabbath day. Our worship and application of eternal principles
draw us closer to God and magnify our capacity to love. Parley P. Pratt,
one of the original Apostles of this dispensation, described how he felt when
the Prophet Joseph Smith explained these principles: “I felt that God was my
heavenly Father indeed; that Jesus was my brother, and that the wife of my
bosom was an immortal, eternal companion: a kind, ministering angel, given to
me as a comfort, and a crown of glory for ever and ever. In short, I could now
love with the spirit and with the understanding also.”
In closing, I remind all that we
do not believe that good can be accomplished only through a church. Independent
of a church, we see millions of people supporting and carrying out innumerable
good works. Individually, Latter-day Saints participate in many of them. We see
these works as a manifestation of the eternal truth that “the Spirit giveth
light to every man that cometh into
the world.”
Despite the good works
that can be accomplished without a church, the fulness of doctrine and its
saving and exalting ordinances are available only in the restored Church. In
addition, Church attendance gives us the strength and enhancement of faith that
come from associating with other believers and worshipping together with those
who are also striving to stay on the covenant path and be better disciples of
Christ. I pray that we will all be steadfast in these Church experiences as we
seek eternal life, the greatest of all the gifts of God, in the name of Jesus
Christ, amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment